Hey, everybody. Welcome to eagles game plan presented by verizon wireless. I am john clark. As the eagles move forward, nick foles at quarterback, they have been the best team in the nfl this year controlling the game, controlling the line of scrimmage. Number one rush defense in the nfl and the number one rushing attack in the nfc. So to break down some of the running concepts here is the head coach Doug Pederson with our own ike reese. Behind wentz. First down. It goes to blount. He breaks the tackle. Hes at the 45, the 40, the 30, the 25, and the great big train is down to the 22. Joining us for this weeks tape study eagles head coach Doug Pederson. Welcome back to the show. Thank you, ike. Im excite body this tape study because of the run game. Run game has been stout. Lets look at the running plays from early in the year and start with legarrette blount. We understand what the cowboys are. They like to play a fourman line. One was the trap. Offensively basically a trap, we want to trap the three technique. Thats what were trying to do. Well get guys going up and around and will pull and kick this out. Were downhill with the run and trying to create a seam or a sidewalk for big number 29. You have to get movement on the nose. You cant stalemate them in the hole. You have to get movement. There is one thing and youve played defense and understand the tackles when they come, their moment sum to charge. When you ole them theyre on the ground. We went into this game, in coaching terms, were going to book the end, let him go. Free release. Ertz, hes actually blocking the end because his guy is on the ground. He did a great job there. We have great angles here on these two blocks. Its off to the races. A wellexecuted play. Ive been impressed by legarrettes ability to get through the hole. His vision is nice. You see a little burst after the play and the stiff arm has been good as well. Take another look at 29 running the ball. The offensive line. Doing their job, tight ends included, this is a back play. Were going to take trey burton and were going to slice him back and were taking this entire offensive line and were just full zoning this. Its an inside zone play. Were full zoning this all the way to the front side and were going to let two go on the back. Were working this doubleteam here. He does a great job on the back side and then here comes trey there so we just fully captured everybody and then its legarrettes job to hit this wherever his eyes take him on this play. Nice patience by legarrette. Great patience. He was one of those you want to have speed through the hole not to the hole, and he does a great job not running too fast and bogging himself down. I like that, speed to the hole. Through. Through the hole, not to the hole. Excited about the way hes been running the ball, undrafted out of wisconsin. He has been impressive. For him, hes a local guy there in new jersey and had a great career. An undrafted free agent. Hes running on offense plus special teams. A couple weeks ago i showed you that play and we threw a touchdown pass to nelson. This is the exact play. Carson basically is reading number 52. This is what were doing on the play, trying to stretch the defense and letting cory make a cut back in behind the block. Anytime we see 52 hanging in this position and hes not running, hes not trying to get over the top of kelce, were going to give this ball every single time. Its a great read by carson. You can see zach working into the picture. Zach is bending into this hole here and on the outside will also work into the quarterback vision if he feels he can throw it based on where 52 is on the play. This is a give all day. Theres your cut right there. Kelce does a great job up on 52 and cory does the rest. The great thing about rpos, any quarterback has the ability to run this. We see what carson wentz is able to do with the rpos and nick foles will be able to be just as effective running this offense. Take a look at another play here. Again, a little bit of the outside zone play. Another good job of him getting downhill. Same thing. In this picture here were trying to stretch an outside zone type of a play and youre going to see big wiz. Another wellexecuted play. Were trying to work our self as a zone scheme. We can still work a zone scheme and get on the perimeter on these particular plays. Look at kelce. Kelce does a great job of taking a great flat angle and working to the linebacker here. Wiz is pulling for 29. Great angles there. This kid, 79, is playing extremely well. Layne is athletic. Now we have good angles on this particular play. One thing we look at if you can pause it there, you see corys shoulders in this direction, you want to see your offensive line also working. They need to be in tandem because now is where the backs have great vision and great cuts and cory does a good job back inside. An unblocked defender here, its over. He cant redirect as fast as cory can. Its a wellexecuted play. 1 down the field. We ask our receivers to do a lot in the running game as well. The whole team takes pride. Coming up, well look at which eagles need to step up the most to help the birds with carson wentz out of the lineup now. But first, lets look at the new starting quarterbacks for your birds. Nick foles what will the eagles offense look like with him at the helm and can he lead them on a playoff run . Well cover that and a lot more when eagles game plan presented by verizon comes right back. So its now nick foles team heading into the final three regular season games, and then going into the nfc playoffs. And nick foles is a veteran quarterback with a lot of experience in this league. He has a good arm. He can make all the throws. Hes a little bit more of a pure pocket passer than carson wentz and nick will stay there. But keep in mind he has an awful lot of experience in this particular offense having played with the Kansas City Chiefs a year ago. I thought it would be instructive to start by going back to 2014, the last time nick was a philadelphia eagle. And lets look at him against the giants and the reason this play is so interesting is because its a 3 by 1 set and who is the one receiver . Zach ertz. Were in the red zone. So what you see here is ertz running a corner route and this is an outstanding throw by nick foles against good coverage for a touchdown. Those are the kinds of throws nick foles can make from the pocket. So you can expect to see that. Now i mentioned that last year nick was with the Kansas City Chiefs. Thats the offense that the eagles run, the same methodology, the same concept, and here is another red zone concept weve seen from the eagles this year and have talked about numerous times. What do they do . They line up with three tight ends in the high red zone and all three tight ends are to one side. The outside tight end here is travis kelce. He widens and then comes back inside basically a post route. Weve seen him run the route numerous times. What does nick foles do . Delivers a perfect ball for a touchdo touchdown. The eagles are really, really good in the red zone. You can bet the concepts wont really change and nick foles will execute them. Nick foles was 144 as a starter under chip kelly. What does he do well but what has carson done that nick cant exactly do . Carson does things not many quarterbacks can do the way he extends plays and some of the situations he gets himself out of. This offensive line and everyone across the board has to do a much better job of protecting nick because he cant move like this guy moves. And you watch carson on this play and just the mobility in the pocket and the ability to get out of harms way. You have to stunt on this side. This guy will loop to the inside. This guy will come outside. So cory clement initially will keep his focus on this guy. When he see that is stunt, he kind of leans back to the inside. Ogletree almost gets a hit on carson wentz. But watch how he feels the pressure and steps up out of harms way and extends the play well enough to get the ball off down the field. Thats one of the things carson gives you that not a lot of quarterbacks can do. So the offensive line and everybody will have to pick up their game to make sure nick is protected first and make sure that he has time to throw the football. Doug pederson says he doesnt have to change much with nick foles. What are the things he can do to help nick foles . I think the run pass options, all of the things they do, they will continue to do those things. They will run the football because thats what they have to lean on. Run the ball, run the ball well, and if they do that, i think nick foles will be just fine. Nick is a veteran of this offense. He was 20 last year running the offense for kansas city. Nick can run the offense without a problem. The guys around him will have to pick it up a little bit. Coming up on the show well talk about an eagles defense. Yes, they won the nfc east and had a big win in l. A. But can they clean some things up after the two west coast games. And what will be their biggest challenge against eli manning and the giants . Well find out when we return on eagles game plan. The Philadelphia Eagles will be facing a new york giants defense that has really struggled in the passing game this season. Eli mannings back at quarterback as he was last week. Now eli has struggled a bit this year. Some of it not of his own doing. The giants offensive line has been a merrygoround. A lot of players have played and never got ann group together thats been very good. They try to do everything quick. Quick game concept. Threestep drop, quick five step. When they try to go deeper, the pressure gets there and thats where sometimes eli can have some problems. Lets go back to week three. Thats when these teams played the first time. The eagles were coming off a really tough loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The giants were coming off the game in which eli manning was sacked many, many times and was under tremendous pressure. So what they did in that game was a lot of quick game stuff. They wanted to get the ball out of elis hands as quickly as they could. This play is a great example of that. It was part of the Fourth Quarter comeback. Eli takes the snap. Breaks a few tackles, some bad angles. Goes for a long touchdown. This is what the giants have to do. Its their only way to attack an eagles defense that over matches them on the defensive line versus the offensive line. Well see if they can have success. My guess is they wont have a lot. All right, ike reese. One of the things with the giants, they like to get the ball out quick. When you look at the eagles defense in some instances this tackling hasnt been as good as before. How do they have to clean that up . You have to get back to doing the things that made this defense one of the most successful in the league. Theyve been at the top of the league allowing the fewest amount of plays over 30 yards down the field and its because they did a great job of tackling. Struggled even in the giants game with tackles in the open field. They have to get back to doing better. You have a third and long situation. You have cooper caught in the slot matched up on Rodney Mcleod and its one thing to allow the completion. Coach is not going to go bonkers. You tip your cap to the opposing team. Here is our first culprit here. Malcolm jenkins coming in. Use that sideline as your extra defender and force cooper kupp out of bounds. Cooper kupp is a nice player. He makes malcolm miss. Now you have to get everybody rallying to the football. Another tackler where if you just use the sideline as an extra defender you can force kupp out of bounds. You cant allow him to cut back in behind you. Thats a mistake there. Now were still pursuing cooper kupp. We get him down here. Nice job, malcolm never giving up. This play could have been avoided had the defenders broke down, used the sideline and these are things they struggled with earlier in the season, happy to see they got them corrected around game four and five. If the defense is going to step up and have a chance, the thing they have to do most is tackle in the open field. You were in situations you lost mcnabb fab for key games for long stretches. What did you say as a defense how you need to step up your level of play to help out . I can remember the first time we lost donovan still six games to go. Jim said its on us now. Its on us. We have to do our job on this side of the ball, make life easier for the offensive side of the ball. We took it upon ourselves to accept that challenge and raise our level of play. Thats what this team will do this week. Carson being out. Its the running game, special teams, everybody has to raise their level of play. Michael im thankful that im alive and have a second chance. James im thankful for the help and the opportunity that i received. Darlene im thankful to be able to help people in crisis. Vanessa im thankful that addiction is treatable, and that help is available. Christie new jersey is experiencing a heroin epidemic fueled by opioid painkillers. But if you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, i want you to know we are here for you. This holiday season, choose help. Call 844 reach nj or visit reachnj. Gov. Welcome back to eagles game plan. Can carson wentz out, we hear next man up at the quarterback position. How about the rest of the Team Stepping up their game . Who do you want to see more from, ike . You need all hands on deck from all phases of the game, special teams and defense. Well start on the defensive side of the ball, and why not with your best player. Fletcher cox. Its not as if he hasnt had a good season. Im sure hes on his way to another pro bowl. You need your big players to play at an elite level. Well need more players like we saw several times in the rams game. Theyll give a fiveman pressure look, even a sixth man in malcolm jenkins. No one can stop fletcher cox oneonone. That hit on jared goff there puts most quarterbacks out of the game. We need him to get there a step or two early and force fumbles. Hes certainly capable of doing that. And we just saw a quarterback like jared goff mostly in the pocket and thats a big difference between carson wentz and nick foles. What do you see from the giants as far as facing foles compared to wentz . I see Going Forward a lot of pressure, bringing extra guys to try to get hits on nick foles because he doesnt have the mobility carson has. With that the guys on the outside have to be better at beating man coverage. Theyre going to see a lot of man coverage, wide receivers. You have to love that and win in man coverage situations. Watch this play right here with torrey smith. He does a great job here, guys, of getting on the cornerback, getting right on top of him, almost on his feet. Its low and away. Thats what youre going to have to have. Have your guys on the outside in situations theyre going to be man coverage, press coverage they have to win in those situations. And nick foles will get the ball to them. Nick foles stepping in for carson wentz against the giants. Bill parcells said when he got Jeff Hostetler ready and wound up winning the super bowl he had a couple of those games to get ready. The eagles have already clinched a playoff spot. One more win and they can clinch home field, at least a bye for the first round. A lot of their goals still in front of them. They certainly want a bye week, get that extra week of rest. One man goes down, the next man has to step in there. Its about all 53 guys, all raising their level of play. They have a great team. Im john clark. Thanks for watching eagles game plan presented by verizon wireless. Michael im thankful that im alive and have a second chance. James im thankful for the help and the opportunity that i received. Darlene im thankful to be able to help people in crisis. Vanessa im thankful that addiction is treatable, and that help is available. Christie new jersey is experiencing a heroin epidemic fueled by opioid painkillers. But if you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, i want you to know we are here for you. This holiday season, choose help. Call 844 reach nj or visit reachnj. Gov. This sunday, a political earthquake. Democrat doug jones win over roy moore in alabama changes the political calculus for 2018. We have come so far, and the people of alabama have spoken. Republicans may be relieved that roy moore is gone im really, really happy with what happened for all of us. But democrats suddenly sense the possibility of taking back both the house and the senate. I think that the energy going into 2018 has already begun. My guest this morning, democratic senator joe manchin of West Virginia and republican Governor John Kasich of ohio. Plus, our brandnew nbc news wall street journal poll out this morning, and it suggests democrats may be right, that a wave is coming. Well bring you all the numbers